Charmed Witch Hunts:  Chapter Two:  Phoebe Is Dead
by StoryGirl83
Summary: The aftermath of Morality Bites. What happened in the AU when Prue and Piper's future selves were back in control of their bodies, how they react to Phoebe's death, and how those around them react. Paige is in this story, but not as a new acquaintence.
1. Phoebe's Death and Paige's Power

This is the first of twenty-one stories of varying lengths bridging "Morality Bites" to my spin off episode "Morality Bites 2: Biting Back" which will be on here later. There is also a prequal about what happened to lead up to Phoebe's time in prison and death, hence this is Chapter Two. For some reason I want to call these stories Chapters. They aren't episodes, at least not as I see them, the lengths will vary. Some won't be nearly long enough for episodes. Some will be far too long. At any rate I hope everyone enjoys this story about what happened after "Morality Bites".

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Charmed: Witch Trials – 18 Years of an Alternate Reality

Chapter Two - Phoebe is Dead

Phoebe was dead. There might have been a time when Prue felt worse, like maybe when Andy died. Maybe, but probably not. She clung tightly to Piper as if Piper, too, would disappear. Tears rolled down her cheeks as the remains of Phoebe's lifeless body burned.

Everything froze and she knew Piper had used her power, again. Prue looked at her through her long, artificially blonde strands of hair. "Piper?"

"We failed."

Prue sighed. She looked over at the frozen flames. "It was her choice."

Piper shook her head. "No."

"Can we discuss this later? Why did you freeze time?"

"We can't let Pratt see us. He's already checked us, but he's watching and something like this would arouse his suspicion sky high."

Prue looked over at Phoebe's dead body, tears streaming down her face as her eye lids slid shut. After a few seconds she opened her eyes, again, and looked at Piper. "Let's go then. We'll make him return her body to us."

Prue turned to the door, held out her hand, palm out and twisted it. The door knob turned in unison with her hand. She pulled her hand back and the door opened. Piper took one last look at Phoebe. She heaved in a deep breath and wiped the tears out of her eyes. She turned around and walked out of the room.

Prue stared at Phoebe. "I love you, Phoebe." She turned around and walked out into the hall. Once there she waved her hand, pulling closed the door behind her.

Piper glanced around. Seeing no one she waved her hands up and down, resuming time. They walked down the hall, tears tightly in check, emotions put in storage while adrenaline pumped through their bodies and the chance of being caught loomed around every corner.

Piper turned one corned only to find two guards patrolling. She waved her hands before they could look her direction and motioned Prue forward. "Breaking out shouldn't be so easy."

Prue flashed her an uneasy grin. "Anne would freak out."

Piper let a giggle escape her before she remembered. She sobered and heaved in a deep breath. "Prue . . ."

"Let's just get out of here."

Piper nodded. "We're going to have to talk."

"We will," Prue told her, "after we leaved Hobart State Penitentiary. I lost one sister. I'm not going to loose another."

Piper nodded and started walking, again. Once they both round the next corner, Piper turned around and unfroze the guards.

The two sisters walked in silence for several minutes. The walls seemed to go on forever, but eventually they came to what they deemed to be an outer wall.

"Do you remember the spell?" Prue asked looking blankly at the seemingly impenetrable wall."

"You're the one who said it earlier," Piper reminded her.

"Not me, just . . ."

Piper gave her a look. "Still you."

"Piper."

Piper sighed and began to draw a door on the wall with her finger. "When you find your path is blocked, all you have to do is knock." She looked over at Prue.

Prue rolled her eyes and knocked. A door opened in the wall, allowing sunlight to stream in and the two sisters to step out.

* * *

An hour later Prue and Piper were walking up the steps to the manor. "Traffic is usually bad," Prue complained, "but that was ridiculous."

"There was an accident," Piper said off handedly.

Prue looked at her sharply. "Was everyone all right?"

Piper shrugged and pulled out her key. "Except the cars, yeah. Weren't you listening?"

"Prue shook her head as Piper pushed opened the front door. "Do you recall where they put the book?" She asked as she walked in."

"They being us?" Piper asked rolling her eyes.

Prue nodded as she walked into the manor and glanced around. "Gunny how it's been so long since I was last her."

"You were welcome."

"I guess I was busy." Prue looked over at Piper with an apologetic look. "Sorry about that. Much as I enjoy my work and it takes a lot of time, I should have been here, for both of you. Now, it's too late."

"For Phoebe, but not for us," Piper said as she shut the door behind her.

Prue gave her a half smile. "Yeah." She walked into the front room and looked around. "So, any idea where the book is?"

Piper nods. "It's rather hazy, but I think I do."

"Good," Prue sighed with relief, "because I haven't a clue where it is."

"Want me to go get it, so that we can put it away?"

Before Prue can answer she heard a knock on the door behind her. "Hold that thought." Prue walked over to the front door. Through the thick glass she made out the outline of a woman. She pulled open the door, a smile coming to her lips at the sight of the dark haired woman standing there.

Prue Matthews-Mitchell had been a friend of the family for over six years. She was a social worker and one of her children had turned out to be a fire starter, a special type of witch who often found his or her life forfeit when a powerful evil being sought to control their powers. Phoebe had had a premonition of Paige and the boy, Tyler Westcott being killed by demonic bounty hunters passing as Tyler's foster parents. They had managed to save both Paige and Tyler.

Shortly there after Piper froze a room and Paige didn't freeze. They had yet to learn what Paige's powers where, but they knew she was a witch.

Paige's recent marriage to parole officer and mortal, Henry Mitchell, had changed things between the three Halliwell sisters and their friend, especially with everything going on in the six months since Cal Greene's death. Henry adored his wife, but he had only the barest inkling about the magic since Paige had no known powers and he wasn't at all sure he wanted his wife near people in the media's light if there was a chance that media might turn on his wife.

For now, Paige was alone, a weary look on her face. The smile on Prue's face wavered. "Come in."

Paige nodded and walked past Prue, shutting the door behind her. "Phoebe?"

Prue exhaled slowly before saying only. "She's dead."

Paige's eyes slid shut before she responded. "I'm sorry, Prue."

Prue nodded. "No 'I told you so'?"

"I wouldn't do that," Paige told her shaking her head. "Besides, I didn't want her dead. I just thought that might be the outcome." Paige sighed. "I really hoped that it wouldn't." She looked up at Prue. "Do you want me to go?"

Prue shook her head. "No. Come in. Right about not I need people around who knew Phoebe and not just her mortal half."

Paige smiled a little and walked into the front room. She picked up a picture off a shelf of Melinda, Piper's seven-year-old daughter, in a tutu. "Does Melinda know yet?"

"We've tried to keep this from Melinda as much as possible," Piper said as she entered the room. "I think she knows more than I want, but I don't think she knows Phoebe is dead."

Paige put back the photo and walked over to her and hugged her. "I am so sorry, Piper."

Piper let tears fall. "She was my baby sister."

Paige held her tight for a minute, letting Piper cry. "I'm sorry this happened. I am so sorry, Piper." Paige's voice was thick with emotion and her eyes shimmered with unshed tears. Paige let her go and looked over at Prue. "Where do you go from here? The power of three is gone."

"It is gone," Prue stated simply, "but we just got a wake up call, not just Phoebe's death, but our own pasts didn't like what they saw."

"Your pasts?" Paige asked.

Prue nodded. "It's rather confusing, but they reminded us, me at least, that I need to rearrange my priorities."

Behind them a demon shimmered in. Piper, who was facing them, saw the demon as he extended his hand, lightning shooting from it. Even as Piper raised her hands to freeze the demon she called out, "Prue! Paige!"

Both women whirled around. The lightning was headed straight at Paige. Just before it would have hit her, Paige disappeared in the blue-white orb lights of a whitelighter. Prue froze in place, gaping as the lightning passed directly where Paige had been and hit the wall beyond. Piper's hands stopped, momentarily stunned as she watched Paige reappear. Piper stared for a second before she noticed the demon still moved and swung her hands up and down freezing the room. As expected Paige didn't freeze.

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Please review and let me know what you think. 


	2. Power Outage

Writerchic16 - I too have had "What if Prue lived?" thoughts and enjoyed "Morality Bites". It was one of my favorite episodes. Another being "The Power of Three Blondes". I hope you enjoy this next chapter.

Lilmiznicky - As requested, an update. Enjoy.

Dezi393 - I hope you enjoy this next chapter. I wrote nine (handwritten) pages last night, which when translated to the computer made only about three, but quite productive. Hope you enjoy.

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Chapter Two – Power Outage

"What just happened?" Piper asked Prue glancing at Paige as she did.

Prue shook her head. "I don't know, but let's deal with the deal first."

As Prue spoke the room unfroze and the demon started moving. He threw lightning at Prue who jumped out of the way.

"Piper, what happened?"

Piper waved her hands up and down, but nothing happened. "I don't know."

Prue swung her arm at the demon sending into the wall. "Well, do something about it."

Piper tried freezing the room, again. "Nothing is happening."

The demon got up slowly. Paige saw him and grabbed a cushion off the couch, throwing at him.

Prue raised an eyebrow. "A pillow?"

Paige rolled her eyes. "You got a better idea? No powers. Remember?"

The demon looked down at the cushion with disdain. Prue waved her hand sending a lamp across the room at the demon. He managed to sidestep it.

"Really, what a poor attempt, witch," the demon mocked as he looked over the situation.

Piper continued to try freezing him. Frustrated she began looking for a weapon.

The demon threw lightning at Piper. Electricity flashed around him.

Piper ducked. "Can't you give us time to grieve? Our sister just died."

The demon chuckled. "I'm here to help you join her." He sent more lightning at Prue.

Prue sent the lightning away from her with a wave of the hand." Not going to happen."

Piper got up and threw a door stopper at the demon. Unfortunately things to throw were in short supply. Then, she ran out of the room in the direction of the kitchen where potential weapon were more readily available.

Prue waved her hand in an attempt to send another lamp at the demon. The lamp wiggled and fell over, but did not move any farther. Prue tried, again. This time nothing happened. Prue frowned.

The demon sent another lightning bolt at Prue and one at Paige, scorching the wall behind Paige as she got out of the way.

Prue was hit in the leg during her attempt to get out of the way. She fell to the floor screaming in pain.

The demon grinned. "So you can be hurt. We had . . ."

He was abruptly stopped as he exploded all over the place. Piper stood just behind where he had been, knife in hand. She was grinning until she noticed Prue on the ground. She dropped the knife and ran to her sister's side. "Leo!"

Leo must have heard the urgency in her voice, because he orbed in almost instantly. He saw Prue and dropped to his knees. He held his hands over her leg. A gold glow emanated from them and her leg slowly healed and then her pants healed over the wound.

Once her leg was healed Prue sat up and then pushed herself to her feet. She exhaled slowly and looked around her. Her eyes rested on Paige with a frown.

Before she could say anything though Leo spoke. "What happened? I thought demons quit attacking her."

Piper shrugged. "I guess he decided with Phoebe dead we're easy pickings."

"He was almost right," Prue stated turning her attention to Leo. "Our powers failed on us."

"What?" Leo's attention was fully on her. "Failed how exactly?"

Prue waved her hand in the direction of the couch, but nothing happened. "Completely. I used it a couple of times and then nothing."

Leo turned to Piper. "And your power?"

Piper sighed. "Once and it ended on it's own. After that, nothing."

I'll go check Up There, see if They know anything," Leo said with a sigh. He started to orb out.

"Wait," Prue said quickly.

Leo stopped orbing a fully rematerialized. "What?"

"Paige orbed," Prue stated simply.

"Huh?" Leo looked at her surprised.

"What?" Paige looked at her confused. "I did what?"

"You orbed," Prue repeated. "When the demon first attacked."

"Impossible," Paige protested. "Witches don't orb and I'd know if I was a whitelighter. Besides Piper can freeze whitelighters."

"One witch orbs," Leo reminded her looking at the three women.

"Melinda," Piper said in little more than a breath. "But Melinda's not a normal witch. Her father . . . you're a . . ."

"Whitelighter," Leo finished. "Which means one of Paige's parents is, too. Probably her father since I don't think a pregnant whitelighter would escape Their notice."

"Can you check something like that?" Prue asked.

"I don't know," Leo admitted. "It hasn't come up before." Leo turned to Paige. "Do you know anything about your biological parents?"

Paige shook her head. "Not really, just bits and pieces."

"Anything you can tell that would help me Up There."

Paige walked over to the couch and sat down. "My parents. My real ones, the ones who raised me didn't know much, only what Sister Agnes told them."

"Sister Agnes?" Prue asked.

Paige nodded. "She was the one my parents, my biological parents gave me to."

"So she's seen them."

Paige nodded in response to Piper's comment. "All I remember in that my name came from them somehow. I tried to figure out who they were once, after my parents died, but all I hit were dead ends. It's not like they left a paper trail."

"They wouldn't have," Leo said wryly. "Some how they hid you, probably bound your powers which is why you've never been able to figure out what they are."

"If my powers were bound, wouldn't I have been unable to orb like Prue claims I did?"

"I saw it, too," Piper offered.

"Okay," Paige amended with a shrug, "like Prue and Piper saw."

Leo shook his head. "I don't think a mere witch and whitelighter can bind a whitelighter's powers. They would have to be stripped and that would only happen if They decided it would or if you gave up your powers."

"And what about the fact that I don't freeze. Wouldn't binding my powers make me hidden from powers? Wouldn't I freeze?"

"You're still a witch, but to be very honest, I have no idea. In my time as a whitelighter I have only had three charges who could freeze time and none of them have knowingly attempted to freeze a witch with bound powers in my presence. You could maybe summon Patty Halliwell. She could freeze time and had three daughters with bound powers. If she could have frozen them, she would have at some point before her death. It's also possible that your whitelighter side messed with that."

"But whitelighters can freeze," Paige said repeating what she said earlier.

Leo nodded, again. "I know, but maybe the fact that your whitelighter powers can't be bound made you open enough to the magical world that you still showed up as a witch to Piper's powers. I don't know. I'll see if I can find anything out." Leo looked at Prue and Piper. "You two see if you can find an unbinding spell."

"But wouldn't the witch who bound them have to do that?" Piper asked.

"Only if she's alive."

"You think Paige's mother is dead?" Prue asked.

Leo nodded. "Yeah. I think so. She had an affair with her whitelighter."

"Not a dead witch make," Piper gave him an annoyed look.

Leo shook his head. "It just means she wasn't following the rules which . . ."

"Is what we do all the time," Prue interrupted.

"And Phoebe is dead."

"A demon didn't get her though," Prue reminded him.

Leo sighed. "Just see about an unbinding spell and summon your mom or Grams to see if your mom ever used her powers on you."

"Doesn't matter," Prue told him. "Grams did."

Leo looked at her frowning. "Grams did what?"

"She used her power on us," Prue told him. "We were in the past and didn't have our powers because out little selves did. She thought we were warlocks and threw us out of the house with her powers."

"But little me didn't freeze us when she froze Andy," Piper reminded her.

"I don't think she tried."

"Our powers weren't bound. They were literally in someone else, us as little kids."

Paige looked at Leo with a shrug. Leo sighed and looked at the two sisters. "Piper, Prue, just summon one of them and find out for sure."

"Is it relavant?" Prue asked.

"Do you have some reason you don't want to summon them?" Leo asked getting a bit annoyed.

"Well, no."

"Then, just do it and see if it helps any."

"Prue shrugged. "Fine. Don't be too long. We don't want to be caught powerless the next time a demon attacks and I have a feeling they will."

"Is Melinda safe?" Piper asked suddenly.

Leo smiled. "She's fine. I'll tell her you asked about her."

"This is going to be really hard without her."

Leo sighed. "Piper, we agreed . . ."

"Piper nodded. "She's safer with you. I know. And she is. I'm just going to miss seeing her every day."

Leo visibly relaxed and nodded. He turned to Prue. "I will be as quick as I can. I'd go somewhere that has potions while you work."

"Uh . . ." Prue looked at Piper before turning back to Leo. "I . . . kind of destroyed the attic this afternoon."

Both of Leo's eyebrows raised, but he said nothing.

"It's complicated, but basically my past self was in my body and didn't realize that extent of my powers."

"Leo relaxed, again. "Oh. That. If you can remember that, you can also remember that I know that, the part about your past selves, not the part about the attic."

Piper grimaced. "She kissed you. Sorry about that."

Leo shook his head. "Don't be. That Piper's still in love with me. Maybe for her and her Leo things will still work out."

"This Piper's still in love with you," Piper commented. "I just know it won't work out."

Leo nodded. "I'm leaving now." He orbed out before they could stop him, again.

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I like to know what people think and on here it is the only way to know if people are reading this, so please review. I'll try to have more for this and my other stories soon. I would have had more on at least one of my other stories tonight, but I got a surprise babysitting job, so I wasn't here. Maybe tomorrow I'll post something on one of the others. Hope you have enjoyed this one so far. 


	3. The Hiding Spells

I am really, really thankful for the reviews I have gotten. Thank you to: lizardmomma, lilmiznicky, and tretre010

Laby Anne Boleyn - Yes, I like using pillows to throw at people. I have another one in my story "The Magic is Back." If you haven't read, I hope you do. I think you'd like it.

Lyta Padfoot - I hadn't thought of that possibility. I haven't really mulled over who the friend was, though I will eventually. That is a good idea, though obviously it won't work with my story line. As to the discussion of powers. You will probably find that I like things to make sense, so unless there is a reason I have characters talk things out to make sense rather than have them blindly accept things. I do hope you like this next piece of the story.

In this next section are a couple of spells I made up plus one from the show. I hope they work. Please enjoy the next section of this story.

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Chapter Three – The Hiding Spells

Prue looked at Piper and Paige. "All right. We have work to do. Piper, you said you know where the Book is. We will need that for the summoning spell and the unbinding spell." She turned to Paige. "Would you like to help me set things up for the summoning spell? I remember enough to so that much."

"Okay." Paige had helped the sisters before with magical stuff. She had even used some spells, which as she thought about it was weird because, if her powers were bound wouldn't that negate the ability to use spells. "Can someone with bound powers use a spell?"

Prue nodded as she headed up the stairs with Paige following. "Phoebe unbound our powers with a spell, so I'd have to say yes."

"What's the point of a binding spell if you can still do magic?"

Prue stopped and turned around on the stairs. "I suppose it is possible that she wouldn't have been able to say any spells if Grams had still been alive. Maybe the death of the binder loosens the power some. Maybe. I haven't really thought about it." Prue turned around and continued up the stairs.

The two women headed down the second floor hallway until they reached the stair case to the attic. They climbed it and opened the door. Prue walked inside and Paige followed her. Paige slowed to a stop as she took in the damage. "What happened?"

"Past self. Nothing to worry about," Prue assured her. She walked to the center of the room. "Magic hidden from mortal view, fill this chamber with magic brew. Ten fold the hidden lock, unhide all as we walk." Prue walked over to the gapping hole in the wall. She sighed.

Behind her Paige watched amazed as the room transformed. Some thing appeared over turned on the floor, but for the most part the three remaining walls were filled with potions and magical tools.

Prue turned around. She looked not at the magically altered walls, but at Paige. "Well, we can safely assume my magic isn't gone, just not working right. Any ideas on what to do with this wall? We can't exactly leave it like this."

Paige focused her attention on the wall. "My guess would be by some means other than magical."

Prue nodded. "Yeah. That's how we got into this mess, using magic where we shouldn't use magic. Much as I wish I could, I agree that magic isn't the answer in this case."

Paige looked at her surprised. "Last week you would have argued with me on that point."

"Last week I hadn't lost my sister for what amounts to a misuse of magic. Last week I hadn't experienced a full on blast of the thoughts of my younger past self on the subject. Last week, yesterday even, seems like a lifetime ago."

"Do you think Leo would help? You said he's had experience in handy work."

Prue nodded. "He might. We certainly can't have someone who isn't involved in the magical world." Prue walked over to one of the walls. "Help me get these crystals downstairs."

Paige joined her at the wall and picked up several crystals. "Anything else we need?"

"Not from up here," Prue told her as she stepped away from the wall. "Go stand by the door."

Paige walked over to the door and waited.

Prue walked to the center of the room. "Magic hide from mortal view, rid this chamber of magic brew. Ten fold the hidden lock, hide all as we walk."

As Prue walked toward the door Paige watched amazed as the room returned to the way is had been when they entered. "Do you use that a lot?"

Prue nodded. "Ever since Phoebe was arrested." She sighed. "We can't afford to risk it." Prue headed through the door and down the stairs.

Paige looked once more at the attic before she headed out the door, closing it behind her. She was careful to make sure she kept a good grip on the crystals Prue had entrusted her with. When she reached the second floor, a sound caught her attention. "Prue."

Prue stopped and turned around. "What?"

"I want to check something."

Prue shrugged. "Be quick."

Paige nodded. As Prue continued toward the stairs Paige looked down at the crystals. She heard the noise, a shuffle of sorts, again. It was coming from Piper's bedroom. She put the crystals down by the door and pushed the door open a crack. Inside she saw a man looking through the dresser drawers. "Hey!"

He looked up startled. He blinked and suddenly he was gone.

Paige knew enough to realize that meant he was a warlock. She glanced around the room to make sure it was clear. Finding it so, she picked the crystals back up and headed down the stairs.

The front room still showed signs of the the recent battle, but it did not show signs of Prue and Piper, so Paige kept walking. She found Prue in the dinning room. Prue had put her crystals on the table and was looking through the Book of Shadows for the spells they wanted. "Where's Piper?" Paige put the crystals in her arms down on the table with the others.

"Kitchen," Prue told her without looking up. "She want to stockpile potions."

"Find anything?"

Prue looked up with a sigh. "Nothing of much use yet. There has to be an unbinding spell."

"How did you unbind your powers?"

Prue sighed as she flipped another page. "Phoebe read the Power of Three spell."

"Could that give us an idea?"

Prue flipped to the first page. She stood and indicated that Paige should sit. "Feel free to give it a try. Phoebe was the one who did most of the spells."

"I'm not Phoebe."

Prue smiled. "I know. I'm just saying, I'm not either. Besides you've written spells before and you are creative, so maybe you'll figure something out."

"Where are you going?"

"I'm going to see if Piper wants help."

"And leave me alone with the book?"

Prue shrugged. "Why not? We trust you. And right now, you seem to be the only one with powers."

"Yeah," Paige said rolling her eyes," you claim I orbed."

"You did." Prue walked out in the direction of the kitchen.

Paige sat down and looked at the spell on the page. She silently read the directions on the page. The longer she read the less she thought it would work. She scribbled the spell onto a pad of paper Piper had left next to the book. She then drew a line under it. Beneath the line she wrote the conditions needed for the spell, midnight on a full moon. If nothing else worked she would try this spell in a week or two when the full moon arrived.

Paige ripped the page off the pad and stuffed it into her pocket. With a sigh she started writing. What would an unbinding spell need? Did someone need to know who bound their powers? She flipped through page after page after page, but couldn't even find the binding spell. Surely something in that would give her some hints. She picked up the Book and the pad of paper, taking them with her as she joined her friend in the kitchen.

Piper looked up as she entered. "What's up?"

"I couldn't find the binding spell. I thought maybe that would give me some ideas."

"You looked through the whole Book?" Piper asked skeptically.

Paige shook her head smiling. "No, I just thought I'd ask the experts for a ballpark area to search."

Piper nods. She frowns and looks at Prue. "Didn't I take it out earlier today?"

Prue thought about it. "Yeah. You did."

Paige sighed, slightly deflated. "Do you remember what it said?"

"Something about taking their hand in yours," Piper told her unsure. "Another reason to call Grams, I guess. Maybe she remembers."

"So we are summoning Grams rather than Mom?" Prue asked. "I kind of wanted to see Mom."

"Mom didn't bind out powers," Piper reminded her.

"No, but Mom is the one with the freezing power and I can't imagine she was far away when Grams was binding them. I want to see Mom."

Piper smiled slightly. "Mom it is then."

Prue looked at the potion bottles Piper was filling on the table. "Why don't we give those a break and summon Mom now."

Piper nodded. She walked into the dining room followed closely by Prue and Paige. Piper picked up two crystals as she reached the pile on the table and began a circle on the ground. Prue and Paige did likewise, all three adding to the circle until it was complete. Once completed they stood a few feet from the circle and all three chanted. "Hear these words, hear our cry, spirit from the other side. Come to us, we summon thee. Cross now the great divide."

Sparkling lights came up from the crystals swirling around the circle. Slowly a ghostly figure formed in the center.

* * *

That's about as much as a cliffhanger as I can make. Seeing as since they arrived at the manor the story has been continual action, I have to find places to stop a chapter, so I'm going to try for something remotely like a cliffhanger. I hope you enjoyed the chapter and will please leave a review. 


	4. Unbinding Spells

First a thank you to my reviewers:

lizardmomma – I'm glad you liked the story thus far and hope that you will tune in for this new chapter.

desi393 – A time for everything.

It's been eight months since I last updated. I apologize for that. I can only say that other things have kept me busy, including other stories on here, and that I lost the notebook I was writing in, so I had to relocate that. I'm actually part way into the fifth chapter. To make things a little faster for the next update, I will try to make the chapters a bit shorter. I was trying to make them a certain length, but it was getting tired-some. For those of you who have read my Charmed: Heritage series, I am currently posting "Morality Bites 2: Biting Back" which is basically the epilogue to this series. It follows the last episode of this series and what happens to five characters from this series. It takes place seventeen or eighteen years after this one. It will contain various series spoilers, though most of them won't matter until I actually get to the stories involved. I admit to "hitting" my readers over the head with various events from the fourth story in this series "Beloved Whitelighter", but I think most of those where done by PM.

I left you with a cliffhanger, so here is the answer to who they managed to summon. Enjoy.

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Chapter Four – Unbinding Spells

Patty Halliwell smiled at the sight of Prue and Piper. Her eyes came to rest on Paige, widening slightly before she composed herself. "Hello, my dear girls."

"Hi, Mom," Piper said with a catch in her voice.

Prue smiled with tears threatening. "Phoebe . . ."

"Oh, sweety," Patty replied softly. "I'm sorry."

Prue sighed. "She shouldn't have died. We shouldn't have let her."

"Phoebe made her choice, sweety," Patty told her softly.

Prue shook her head angrily. "No. No, Mom, she didn't."

Prue shook her head also, but sadly. "No, Prue. She made her choice. It was effected by the thoughts of her past self just as I imagine your own choices are and will be, but it was her choice."

"What do you mean by past self?" Paige asked still out of the loop. "Prue mentioned that several times by no one explained."

Patty looked at Paige, more sadness filling her eyes as though it was more than just Phoebe's death and her daughters' missing Phoebe. "Ten years ago my girls traveled 

from their time to ours. They have gone back, but while here they had control over their bodies in this time. My girls from this time, these girls."

"We were fully aware of their actions," Piper added. "It's really rather confusing."

Paige laughed. "I'll say." She looked at Patty with a smile. "I'm Paige by the way, Paige Matthews-Mitchell. I'm their friend."

"Hello, Paige. Patty Halliwell, Mom to them."

"Mom?" Piper asked drawing everyone's attention to her. "Is Phoebe all right? Is she adjusting all right?"

"Oh, sweatheart," Patty said softly, repeating her earlier endearment. "She's doing fine, adjusting well, but she misses you."

Prue heaved in a deep breath. "We miss her, too." A stray tear slid down her cheek. "Why couldn't she have lived?"

"It was her time, Prue. She knew that." Sorrow filled Patty's eyes, again. "We will keep her safe with us until you are ready to join her, hopefully many years from now."

Prue bowed her head down trying not to show the thoughts running through her mind. She looked up, her eyes glistening, trying to keep tears back. "I don't want her gone though, Mom."

"She's not gone, Prue, no more than I or your Grams," Patty reminded her oldest daughter. "She's just not here."

"It's not the same. We missed so much with you being dead, then Grams, and now Phoebe. Why?"

Patty shook her head. "I don't know why certain people's times come when they do. I am glad to have time with one of my darlings, but I am sorry you have to loose her to give me that chance."

Prue heaved in a deep breath and looked at Patty. "Right," Prue mumbled remembering their purpose. "We didn't summon you to chit-chat much as I would love to do that. We appear to be having power problems and in the middle of that Paige orbed. We always knew she was a witch because Piper couldn't freeze her. Now, she shows a power and it's that of a whitelighter rather than a witch."

"I see," Patty said hesitantly.

"What's wrong, Mom?" Piper asked noticing Patty's hesitation.

Patty shook her head. "It's . . . not for you to concern yourself with."

"But, Mom . . ."

Patty shook her head, again, and interrupted Piper. "Now, Piper, you called me for a reason. Prue, where were you going with your story?"

"Leo thinks she's the result of an affair between a witch and her whitelighter," Prue informed her. "He thinks she's like Melinda except Paige's witch powers were bound."

Patty smiled at the mention of her granddaughter. "How is my granddaughter?"

"She's fine, Mom," Piper told her with an answering smile. "She seems to understand the severity of everything going on."

"Mom," Prue said, drawing back Patty's attention.

Leo orbed in behind Prue.

Patty looked back at Prue. "Why do you think her powers were bound?"

"Because she is completely off the radar," Leo informed her. "As a whitelighter she would be off the radar so long as she didn't use her powers, which she didn't until today. As a witch however, she would be on Their radar unless someone bound her powers."

"Why are you so sure she is a witch?" Patty asked trembling slightly.

Leo noticed Patty's trembling, but no one else did.

"She doesn't freeze," Piper offered. "Even Leo freezes. Paige doesn't."

Patty inclined her head. "That's a pretty good reason."

"When we were little and out powers were bound, could you freeze us?" Piper asked, eager for an answer.

Patty looked at her daughters. Memories came to her mind, memories of times she wished she could do just that. "No. I tired many times, mostly without thinking about anything except wanting to slow you down."

"I can say spells, too," Paige informed her.

"That would make sense," Patty agreed. "A witch should be able to say spells even when she can't use her powers."

Piper turned to Leo. "Is that true? Can a witch with powers always use spells?"

"Depends on the spell. The greater the power required the less likely it will work, but some spells, yes." Leo looked at the three living witches. "May I speak to Patty alone?"

Prue frowned but was silent.

Paige just shrugged.

Piper wasn't so quick to grant permission. "Is something the matter?"

Leo shook his head. "It's just something I wish to talk to her about in private."

"Can it wait until we are done?" Piper asked. "They don't allow us to summon someone for long."

"That's because of some of the abuses of power they've seen recently," Leo replied.

Piper sighed. "The thing is we don't know when they are going to take her back, so either say what you have to in front of us or wait a few minutes."

"I'll wait."

Piper shrugged. She was curious, but now was not the time to satisfy her curiosity. She looked up at her mother. "The other thing we wanted to ask you about was an unbinding spell. We couldn't find it. We wanted to try and unbind Paige's powers."

Patty frowned. "It's been a long time since we bound your powers and I've never unbound powers. I do know that it's different if the person who originally bound them is dead."

"Why is everyone sure the witch who bound Paige's powers is dead?" Prue wanted to know a bit annoyed.

Patty looked at her oldest daughter seriously. "Because if that aren't you can't unbind her powers until you find them, so work with the theory that they are dead first."

"But what is the spell?" Piper wanted to know.

Patty sighed. "I don't know. I've never bound anyone's powers personally, so there never was a reason to learn that unbinding spell and the other one just isn't used that often."

"What if you had outlived Grams?" Prue wanted to know.

Patty shrugged. "Then, there was always the power of three spell. It wouldn't have permanently unbound . . ." Patty trailed off and her eyes drifted closed. "You said something about a power outage earlier?"

Prue nodded. "Yes. Why? Do you know what happened?"

"You never unbound you powers did you?" Patty asked softly.

"Phoebe did," Piper protested, "when she read the power of three spell."

Patty shook her head. "No. The power of three spell is stronger than a binding spell, but it cannot unbind them, only make them usable as long as you have the power of three."

"And we no longer have that," Piper replied softly.

"You mean our powers are bound?" Prue asked in disbelief.

"A half smile and just a hint of a giggle where quickly covered up by Patty. "I guess if you haven't unbound them since you got them back, then yes, your powers are still bound and now that Phoebe is dead and has accepted that, knowing that is was coming as she did, you can't use them."

Prue shook her head in disbelief and turned to Leo. "Can you confirm that? Are our powers bound?"

Leo frowned. "I can't confirm it, but I can't deny it either and it would explain things pretty well."

A giggle bubbled out of Piper, which was covered by her hand over her mouth and sadness in her eyes. "I guess, in a way, Phoebe gave us out powers and Phoebe took them away."

Prue sighed. "So we are in the same situation as Paige, except we know Grams bound out powers and we know she is dead." Prue looked up at Patty. "Can you at least tell us the binding spell?"

Patty nodded. "That I know."

Prue picked up the pad of paper Paige had abandoned a few minutes before. She picked up a pen and waited.

Patty smiled. "I take your hand in mine, and with this string I will entwine. Your powers I'll forever bind; from now until the end of time."

"Forever," Prue repeated looked down at the words she had just copied.

Patty nodded. "Unless unbound, that is how long it lasts."

"Could Grams cast the unbinding spell?" Piper asked wondering aloud.

Patty smiled at her daughter. "No. Sorry sweetheart." She looked over at Leo. "I have to go, so if you want to ask your question, you will have to do it now."

Leo looked at Prue and Piper.

Prue smiled at Patty. "Bye, Mom. Give Phoebe our love."

"I love you, Mom," Piper added.

"It's nice to meet you, Patty," Paige told her before leaving the room in the direction of the front room.

Prue and Piper followed Paige out of the room leaving Leo and Patty alone.

Patty looked at Leo questioningly. "What is your question, Leo?"

Leo looked Patty in the eyes. "Patty, is Paige your daughter? Piper, Prue, and Phoebe's sister?"

Patty froze and looked at Leo.

* * *

I hope you enjoyed the new chapter. Will Patty answer Leo's question? Or will she avoid it? To find out review and I'll post the next chapter. Thanks for reading.

Yes, I know I made things a bit different from how things were explained in Charmed, but I found nothing that would contradict my idea that the power of three spell didn't actually unbind their powers.

Fact 1: Grams' death didn't unbind their powers. If it had they would have been using their powers for six months before Charmed began.

Fact 2: Only these sisters have a power of three spell. Other people have to have some other way to get their powers back after they are bound. An unbinding spell should be usable for everyone.

Fact 3: Prue was having trouble adjusting to death. In my mind this connects her a little to the world of the living. In this story Phoebe was prepared for death and accepted it quickly. This is how I explain why they didn't loose their powers on Charmed; even though they couldn't harness it until they got Paige, they never actually lost the power of three. Here with Phoebe's quick acceptence of death, they did loose the power of three and thus the ability to loose their powers.

I hope that explains a few things that might be confusing.


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